Viliame Kikau didn't play and in some weird way it might have been a blessing for the Panthers. Outside of Liam Martin's family, who would have thought that 24 hours ago?
But having lost their most potent attacking weapon with their season barely on life support, a six-game NRL rookie gave Penrith fans reason to believe. Maybe the year's not the write-off they thought a fortnight ago.
Stepping in for their Fijian wrecking ball, who was scratched with illness, 22-year-old Martin scored one try and set up another as Ivan Cleary's men opened the dreaded State of Origin malaise with a 15-12 win over the Sea Eagles at Panthers Stadium on Thursday night.
On a roll: Dylan Edwards, left, celebrates his try with Brent Naden, centre, and Brian To'o.Credit:AAP
With NSW halfback Nathan Cleary watching from the stands, Martin was parachuted straight into the starting side and immediately repaid his coach's faith as Penrith recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this year.
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Cleary's replacement, Jarome Luai, and Sea Eagles bench forward Jack Gosiewski were both sent to the sin bin for a second-half scuffle as the visitors, missing Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic brothers, only made a contest of it in the dying stages.
The result lifts Penrith above the Titans and Bulldogs – albeit temporarily – and suddenly gives their fans hope the mountain they need to scale to make the finals might not be as insurmountable as first thought.
And it was thanks to Martin.
He set up Dylan Edwards' first try and pounced on a Brendan Elliot clanger in his breakout NRL game as James Fisher-Harris was a colossus in the middle of the park for the Panthers.
From start to finish, the match screamed Origin period.
A couple of NSW stars abandoned Bondi for the night but needed to share body warmth on the sideline. James Maloney was arguing the toss – not his exclusion from the Blues side but rather why when someone whacks him around the chops he didn't get a penalty. Instead the referee pinged him for being so eager to remonstrate with him he didn't play the ball properly.
In the final few seconds of the half Maloney kicked a near 40-metre field which was so remarkable on an unremarkable night barely anyone noticed. It crept over the crossbar and handed Penrith aRead More – Source
Viliame Kikau didn't play and in some weird way it might have been a blessing for the Panthers. Outside of Liam Martin's family, who would have thought that 24 hours ago?
But having lost their most potent attacking weapon with their season barely on life support, a six-game NRL rookie gave Penrith fans reason to believe. Maybe the year's not the write-off they thought a fortnight ago.
Stepping in for their Fijian wrecking ball, who was scratched with illness, 22-year-old Martin scored one try and set up another as Ivan Cleary's men opened the dreaded State of Origin malaise with a 15-12 win over the Sea Eagles at Panthers Stadium on Thursday night.
On a roll: Dylan Edwards, left, celebrates his try with Brent Naden, centre, and Brian To'o.Credit:AAP
With NSW halfback Nathan Cleary watching from the stands, Martin was parachuted straight into the starting side and immediately repaid his coach's faith as Penrith recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this year.
Advertisement
Cleary's replacement, Jarome Luai, and Sea Eagles bench forward Jack Gosiewski were both sent to the sin bin for a second-half scuffle as the visitors, missing Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic brothers, only made a contest of it in the dying stages.
The result lifts Penrith above the Titans and Bulldogs – albeit temporarily – and suddenly gives their fans hope the mountain they need to scale to make the finals might not be as insurmountable as first thought.
And it was thanks to Martin.
He set up Dylan Edwards' first try and pounced on a Brendan Elliot clanger in his breakout NRL game as James Fisher-Harris was a colossus in the middle of the park for the Panthers.
From start to finish, the match screamed Origin period.
A couple of NSW stars abandoned Bondi for the night but needed to share body warmth on the sideline. James Maloney was arguing the toss – not his exclusion from the Blues side but rather why when someone whacks him around the chops he didn't get a penalty. Instead the referee pinged him for being so eager to remonstrate with him he didn't play the ball properly.
In the final few seconds of the half Maloney kicked a near 40-metre field which was so remarkable on an unremarkable night barely anyone noticed. It crept over the crossbar and handed Penrith aRead More – Source
